Reasonable Doubts?

[Lance Payette]

I assumed that when you kept saying "reasonable doubt," you were simply using it in the legal sense of "as a juror, I would not be convinced of the LN narrative beyond a reasonable doubt." There is no precise legal definition, but it certainly doesn't mean "I think he's innocent." Nor does it really mean "I think my doubts are reasonable." It's "more than a scintella" of doubt but "how much more" has defied precise definition. The Arizona jury instructions require the jury to be "firmly convinced" of guilt. Of course, in every JFKA discussions there are two questions: (1) firmly convinced Oswald was guilty and (2) firmly convinced he acted alone.

FWIW, John Orr believes JBC's wrist wound was caused by a fragment from the head shot. I have also seen this suggested as an explanation for the throat wound (meaning the back wound would have been the shallow one described by the autopsy doctors).

[John Corbett]

GC--

Thanks for your question, and it is a fascinating one.

Connally: I was knocked over, just doubled over by the force of the bullet. It went in my back and came out my chest about 2 inches below and the left of my right nipple. The force of the bullet drove my body over almost double and when I looked, immediately I could see I was just drenched with blood. (1 HSCA 42)

In my layman's review of the Z-film, Gov. JBC is pushed forward ~Z-295. That's my best guess of when JBC is shot.

If that's the best you can do, this hobby doesn't suit you. Maybe you should consider stamp collecting instead.

[Lance Payette]

I might also add that until reading Robert Caro's LBJ books I had no idea how close LBJ and JBC were or how far back their relationship went. Very close and very far back. To the extent JBC waffled and gave "well, maybe" lip service to the SBT in later interviews, this could be explained by tossing LBJ a bone. (Of course, since LBJ himself doubted the SBT, that wouldn't be much of a bone. I guess it would be like tossing the "WC party line" a bone.)

[John Corbett]

I might also add that until reading Robert Caro's LBJ books I had no idea how close LBJ and JBC were or how far back their relationship went. Very close and very far back. To the extent JBC waffled and gave "well, maybe" lip service to the SBT in later interviews, this could be explained by tossing LBJ a bone. (Of course, since LBJ himself doubted the SBT, that wouldn't be much of a bone. I guess it would be like tossing the "WC party line" a bone.)

Just a guess but since CTs do mostly guessing, I think I'm entitled to one once in a while. I doubt LBJ ever read the WCR. He got his information from Hoover who was equally clueless about the facts. Whatever information was being sent up the ladder to him was apparently getting garbled in translation.
JBC disputed the SBT for one simple reason. He had been led to believe JFK was hit by the first shot and he knew he had been hit by the second. I don't know where he got that idea but apparently that's what he had been led to believe. Later in life when he was asked about the possibility of the SBT if JFK had been hit by the second shot, he said that might be possible. It seems to me it is not only possible, it is a certainty that if they were both hit by the second shot, the SBT is a fact.

[Lance Payette]

Just in case anyone missed it on DVP's "JFK Videos" thread, this is JBC's first interview, conducted in June 1964. He extensively discusses the shooting and the WC's efforts to convince him of the SBT. (The WR would not be issued for months, and the interview proceeds as though the SBT was not yet final.) JBC is adamant and, from a lawyer's perspective, a fantastic witness. In later years, he must have been under great pressure to toe the line, but he is adamant here.

[Jack Nessan]

JN-

No, in my layman's view all the doctors in Parkland and Bethesda were honest and scrupulous, and the x-rays of Gov. JBC's wrist genuine.

I agree with Parkland's Dr Gregory, JBC's wrist surgeon, that it is highly improbable that JBC was  holding onto his hat, after being shot through the wrist. 

Ergo...Gov JBC had not yet been shot through the wrist, at Z-272.

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I agree with Parkland's Dr Gregory, JBC's wrist surgeon, that it is highly improbable that JBC was  holding onto his hat, after being shot through the wrist. 


I have never read that Dr Gregory ever made that statement. At least not to the WC.

Dr Gregory's priority was to repair the wrist and would have no knowledge of JBC holding his hat.

When Dr Gregory was asked if the bullet that struck JBC’s arm was a direct shot he stated no.

Mr. DULLES - Could I ask just one question? If a bullet had merely struck the Governor's arm without previously having struck anything else, is it conceivable that impediment of the bone that it hit there would be consistent with merely a flesh wound on the thigh? Do you follow me?
Dr. GREGORY - Yes; I follow you. I would doubt it on the basis of the kind of wound that the Governor has. Now the kind of wound in the Governor's right forearm is the kind that indicates there was not an excessive amount of energy expended there, which means either that the missile producing it had dissipated much of its energy, either that or there was an impediment to it someplace else along the way.
It is simply that there was not enough energy loss there, and one would expect a soft tissue injury beyond that point to be of considerably greater magnitude.

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Dr Gregory’s gives a detailed description of the wound and what could have caused it.

Dr. GREGORY - In examining this bullet, I find a small flake has been either knocked off or removed from the rounded end of the missile.
(At this point Representative Boggs entered the room.)
I was told that this was removed for the purpose of analysis. The only other deformity which I find is at the base of the missile at the point where it Joined the cartridge carrying the powder, I presume, and this is somewhat flattened and deflected, distorted. There is some irregularity of the darker metal within which I presume to represent lead.
The only way that this missile could have produced this wound in my view, was to have entered the wrist backward. Now, this is not inconsistent with one of the characteristics known for missiles which is to tumble. All missiles in flight have two motions normally, a linear motion from the muzzle of the gun to the target, a second motion which is a spinning motion having to do with maintaining the integrity of the intial linear direction, but if they strike an object they may be caused to turn in their path and tumble end over, and if they do, they tend to produce a greater amount of destruction within the strike time or the target, and they could possibly, if tumbling in air upon emergence, tumble into another target backward. That is the only possible explanation I could offer to correlate this missile with this particular wound.
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Mr. SPECTER - Is the back of that bullet characteristic of an irregular missile so as to cause the wound in the wrist?
Dr. GREGORY - I would say that the back of this being fiat and having sharp edges is irregular, and would possibly tend to tear tissues more than does an inclined plane such as this.

[John Corbett]

My contention is JBC was struck from behind ~Z-295.

Your contention is FUBAR.